California 20252026 Regular Session Status: To Executive 1 D cosponsors

SB 838 — Housing Accountability Act: housing development projects.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 789, Statutes of 2025.

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Senate
  4. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been sent to the executive. Introduced February 21, 2025. It awaits signature.

Next likely step: the executive signs it into law or issues a veto.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 64% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

Moderate

How often bills like it became law.

  • To Executive

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (1 D).

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 7 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

Existing law, the Housing Accountability Act, among other things, prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or conditioning approval in a manner that renders infeasible, a housing development project for very low, low-, or moderate-income households unless the local agency makes written findings as to one of certain sets of conditions, as specified. Existing law defines, for its purposes, a housing development project as a use consisting of, among other things, mixed-use developments consisting of residential and nonresidential uses meeting one of several conditions, including that at least 23 of the new or converted square footage is designated for residential use. This bill would revise the definition of "housing development project" to, in the case of mixed-use developments with at least 23 of the new or converted square footage designated for residential use, require that no portion of the project be designated for use as a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast inn, or other transient lodging, except as specified. This bill would correct cross-references in the Housing Accountability Act. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65589.5 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1308 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1308 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 789, Statutes of 2025.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.

  4. Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 26. Noes 9. Page 2988.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

  5. In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

  6. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 58. Noes 17. Page 3273.) Ordered to the Senate.

  7. Ordered to third reading.

  8. Assembly Rule 69(b)(1) suspended.

  9. Read third time and amended.

  10. Ordered to third reading.

  11. Read third time and amended.

  12. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  13. Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Ayes 49. Noes 15. Page 2578.)

  14. From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 9. Noes 1.) (July 16).

  15. Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

  16. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. (Ayes 8. Noes 2.) (July 16). Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV.

  17. Assembly Rule 56 suspended.

  18. July 2 hearing postponed by committee.

  19. Referred to Coms. on H. & C.D. and L. GOV.

  20. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

  21. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 23. Noes 11. Page 1386.) Ordered to the Assembly.

  22. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  23. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 1. Page 1039.) (May 7).

  24. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV.

  25. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. (Ayes 9. Noes 2. Page 832.) (April 22). Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV.

  26. Set for hearing May 7 in L. GOV. pending receipt.

  27. Set for hearing April 22.

  28. Re-referred to Coms. on HOUSING and L. GOV.

  29. Withdrawn from committee.

  30. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

  31. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV.

  32. Referred to Com. on L. GOV.

  33. From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 24.

  34. Read first time.

  35. Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 121 not signed on · 28 voted No

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (121)

121 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 121 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

Passed 26 Yea · 9 Nay · 5 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 26004
Republican 0901
Total 26905
% of votes cast 65%23%0%13%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Allen, Benjamin Democratic Yea
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Yea
Arreguín, Jesse Democratic Yea
Ashby, Angelique V. Democratic Not Voting
Becker, Josh Democratic Yea
Blakespear, Catherine S. Democratic Yea
Cabaldon, Christopher Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Cortese, Dave Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Gonzalez, Lena A. Democratic Not Voting
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Yea
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
McNerney, Jerry Democratic Yea
Menjivar, Caroline Democratic Not Voting
Padilla, Stephen C. Democratic Yea
Pérez, Sasha Renée Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Richardson, Laura Democratic Yea
Rubio, Susan Democratic Yea
Smallwood-Cuevas, Lola Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Not Voting
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wahab, Aisha Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Alvarado-Gil, Marie Republican Nay
Choi, Steven S. Republican Not Voting
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Grove, Shannon Republican Nay
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay
Niello, Roger W. Republican Nay
Ochoa Bogh, Rosilicie Republican Nay
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Nay
Strickland, Tony Republican Nay
Valladares, Suzette Martinez Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Passed 58 Yea · 17 Nay · 5 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 56003
Unaffiliated 1000
Republican 11702
Total 581705
% of votes cast 73%21%0%6%
How each member voted (80)
Member Party Vote
Ávila Farías — Yea
Addis, Dawn Democratic Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Ahrens, Patrick Democratic Yea
Alvarez, David Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Bains, Jasmeet Democratic Yea
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Bennett, Steve Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Boerner, Tasha Democratic Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Bryan, Isaac G. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Caloza, Jessica Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Connolly, Damon Democratic Yea
Elhawary, Sade Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Garcia, Robert Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
González, Mark Democratic Not Voting
Haney, Matt Democratic Yea
Harabedian, John Democratic Yea
Hart, Gregg Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Not Voting
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Krell, Maggy Democratic Yea
Lee, Alex Democratic Yea
Lowenthal, Josh Democratic Yea
McKinnor, Tina Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Yea
Ortega, Liz Democratic Yea
Pacheco, Blanca Democratic Yea
Papan, Diane Democratic Yea
Patel, Darshana R. Democratic Yea
Pellerin, Gail Democratic Yea
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Yea
Ransom, Rhodesia Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Rodriguez, Celeste Democratic Yea
Rodriguez, Michelle Democratic Yea
Rogers, Chris Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Schiavo, Pilar Democratic Yea
Schultz, Nick Democratic Yea
Sharp-Collins, LaShae Democratic Yea
Solache, Jr., José Luis Democratic Yea
Soria, Esmeralda Democratic Yea
Stefani, Catherine Democratic Yea
Valencia, Avelino Democratic Yea
Ward, Christopher M. Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Not Voting
Wilson, Lori D. Democratic Yea
Zbur, Rick Chavez Democratic Yea
Alanis, Juan Republican Nay
Castillo, Leticia Republican Nay
Chen, Phillip Republican Nay
Davies, Laurie Republican Nay
DeMaio, Carl Republican Nay
Dixon, Diane Republican Nay
Ellis, Stan Republican Nay
Flora, Heath Republican Not Voting
Gallagher, James Republican Nay
Gonzalez, Jeff Republican Nay
Hadwick, Heather Republican Nay
Hoover, Josh Republican Yea
Johnson, Natasha Republican Nay
Lackey, Tom Republican Nay
Macedo, Alexandra Republican Nay
Patterson, Joe Republican Not Voting
Sanchez, Kate Republican Nay
Ta, Tri Republican Nay
Tangipa, David J. Republican Nay
Wallis, Greg Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended.

Passed 9 Yea · 1 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Republican 1100
Democratic 8000
Total 9100
% of votes cast 90%10%0%0%
How each member voted (10)
Member Party Vote
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Pacheco, Blanca Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Yea
Ransom, Rhodesia Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Stefani, Catherine Democratic Yea
Ward, Christopher M. Democratic Yea
Wilson, Lori D. Democratic Yea
Hoover, Josh Republican Yea
Ta, Tri Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Passed 8 Yea · 2 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 7001
Unaffiliated 1000
Republican 0201
Total 8202
% of votes cast 67%17%0%17%
How each member voted (12)
Member Party Vote
Ávila Farías — Yea
Caloza, Jessica Democratic Yea
Garcia, Robert Democratic Yea
Haney, Matt Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Lee, Alex Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Not Voting
Wilson, Lori D. Democratic Yea
Patterson, Joe Republican Not Voting
Ta, Tri Republican Nay
Tangipa, David J. Republican Nay

Official roll call →

3rd Reading

Passed 23 Yea · 11 Nay · 6 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 23106
Republican 01000
Total 231106
% of votes cast 58%28%0%15%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Allen, Benjamin Democratic Yea
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Yea
Arreguín, Jesse Democratic Yea
Ashby, Angelique V. Democratic Not Voting
Becker, Josh Democratic Yea
Blakespear, Catherine S. Democratic Not Voting
Cabaldon, Christopher Democratic Nay
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Cortese, Dave Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Gonzalez, Lena A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Not Voting
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Not Voting
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
McNerney, Jerry Democratic Yea
Menjivar, Caroline Democratic Not Voting
Padilla, Stephen C. Democratic Yea
Pérez, Sasha Renée Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Not Voting
Richardson, Laura Democratic Yea
Rubio, Susan Democratic Yea
Smallwood-Cuevas, Lola Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wahab, Aisha Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Alvarado-Gil, Marie Republican Nay
Choi, Steven S. Republican Nay
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Grove, Shannon Republican Nay
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay
Niello, Roger W. Republican Nay
Ochoa Bogh, Rosilicie Republican Nay
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Nay
Strickland, Tony Republican Nay
Valladares, Suzette Martinez Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Passed 9 Yea · 2 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 9000
Republican 0200
Total 9200
% of votes cast 82%18%0%0%
How each member voted (11)
Member Party Vote
Arreguín, Jesse Democratic Yea
Cabaldon, Christopher Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Cortese, Dave Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Gonzalez, Lena A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Padilla, Stephen C. Democratic Yea
Wahab, Aisha Democratic Yea
Ochoa Bogh, Rosilicie Republican Nay
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Subjects

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Frequently asked questions

What does SB 838 do?
Existing law, the Housing Accountability Act, among other things, prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or conditioning approval in a manner that renders infeasible, a housing development project for very low, low-, or moderate-income households unless the local agency makes written findings as to one of certain sets of conditions, as specified. Existing law defines, for its purposes, a housing development project as a use consisting of, among other things, mixed-use developments consisting of residential and nonresidential uses meeting one of several conditions, including that at least 23 of the new or converted square footage is designated for residential use. This bill would revise the definition of "housing development project" to, in the case of mixed-use developments with at least 23 of the new or converted square footage designated for residential use, require that no portion of the project be designated for use as a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast inn, or other transient lodging, except as specified. This bill would correct cross-references in the Housing Accountability Act. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65589.5 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1308 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1308 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Who sponsors SB 838?
SB 838 is sponsored by Durazo, Maria Elena (Democratic).
What is the current status of SB 838?
This bill has been sent to the executive. Introduced February 21, 2025. It awaits signature.
Where can I track SB 838?
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